


Don't Leave

by brotherfuckers



Series: Striderclan [30]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Childhood, Family, Family Drama, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Siblings, Twin Striders, Young Striders, runaways - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-31
Updated: 2013-08-31
Packaged: 2017-12-24 17:45:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/942811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brotherfuckers/pseuds/brotherfuckers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>D and Bro finally leave the Lalonde nest but with it comes the challenge of leaving the two twins who look up to their older brothers like heroes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Leave

They started getting suspicious when they saw the boxes. Not right away though because they remembered the time when Mom put all the boxes together to make a giant fort for them. The masterpiece was spread through three rooms and became their kingdom where they could eat their macaroni and cheese in peace from their sister.

But these boxes were not being put to use to expand their kingdom. No, these boxes were being filled with their brothers’ stuff.

They didn’t understand all of the big words between Mom and Dee, but they picked up that they weren’t being told something. They stood in the hall together and peaked around the corner when it was supposed to be nap time and saw Bo carrying some of the boxes downstairs.

It wasn’t a garage sale. Bo would never get rid of his records. He wouldn’t even let them play with them. It wasn’t cleaning because Mom wasn’t putting their old stuff into boxes. They couldn’t figure out why only Dee and Bo got boxes when not even Rosie got boxes.

They weren’t oblivious to Dee and Bo getting more hugs from Mom. She also started squeezing them tighter too. They’d have to squirm out of her grasp sometimes but when she called to them, “You two aren’t leaving me as well, are you?” Dirk figured it out first.

That night they held a conference under Dirk’s sheets with the little lion flashlight that Dave had to keep quiet every time it went out again.

“Why are Dee and Bo going away?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they have to.”

“Why do they have to?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they are going to go find Dad.”

“But Mom talks to Dad on the phone all the time. About Baby. Why would Bo and Dee need to go find him when she would just tell him to come home and he would come home?”

“I don’t know.” Dirk’s eyebrows furrowed down in concentration.

“Dirk.” Dave fiddled with the edge of the blanket. “I don’t want them to go.”

“We won’t let them.”

And that was when they started planning the sabotage.

* * *

“Mom! Have you seen my records? I know I brought them down yesterday.”

“I have not touched a single thing of yours. I will not help in this abandonment.”

“Mom, we are not abandoning you. But seriously where the f- where did my records go?”

Bro sighed heavily as he found them in the back of the twin’s closet.

* * *

“Mom! Where are my keys?”

“Have you checked by the front hall?”

“Of course,” D replied with exasperation. “First place I looked. I’m going to be late.”

“Kitchen counter?”

“Looked.”

“Back pocket?”

“Duh.”

“Refrigerator?”

“What? Now you aren’t being helpful.”

“But have you checked it?”

D rolled his eyes but walked over to the unit just to satisfy her request. And there his keys were on the bottom shelf.

* * *

“Richard, Derrick, have you seen the twins?”

“Weren’t they out back?”

“I thought they were messing with Rose.”

“I have looked all over the house and all through the yard. I would have expected them to be climbing all over me demanding to be fed. It is almost an hour past lunch.”

“Wow, that is odd.”

“Yo brats!” Bro shouted through the house. “We got apple and orange juice sitting out on the counter for you!”

The three adults waited for a response, but there were no shouts back, no running of feet, no hidden giggles.

“Dave! Dirk! You have until three. One!” She used the oldest trick in the book. “Two!” Even Rose peeked around the corner. Both Bro and D looked at each other nervously. “Three!” Silence chased after the echo. She had never gotten to three before.

“Something’s wrong if that didn’t work.”

“Where could they be?”

“Where was the last place we saw them?” Mom asked with slight panic in her tone.

“Yard? But they were just walking around instead of playing.”

“Back yard or front yard?”

“Back but heading to the front,” Rose offered.

D and Bro shared a glance before tearing off for the front yard. The truck was in the driveway where it had been since Bro and D loaded up all of their non essentials. D was sure he closed and locked the back door but when they approach they found it opened just enough for a small child to have crawled into. Two small children if they wanted to be specific. The door rattled as it was thrown up to bang against the stops. It wasn’t very large as not a lot of furniture was coming with them, but the mass amount of boxes made very good hiding places. And smaller bodies had a larger chance to climb through to find such hiding spots. Bro acted as balance as D used his long legs to step carefully to solidly packed boxes in order to get deeper.

He found the twins curled up in a niche about halfway back. Shadowed and almost completely enclosed by corrugate, D almost missed them. But he caught the glitter of amber eyes that watched him over his brother’s head as Dave took a nap.

Dave sleepily clung to Bro after D extracted him and D had to hold Dirk tight so he couldn’t escape before facing Mom. D kept the keys to the padlock very close to him after that.

* * *

Bro and D’s departure was filled with tears and snot. Even Rose was a little red eyed around her too sharp lilac. Dave was wrapped tightly around Bro’s leg and Dirk was staring daggers into D with his little arms crossed in front of his chest and his face a mess from crying so hard. D felt torn between wanting to laugh and feeling guilty.

Admittedly, Mom was acting the worse. She was tripping over her own feet, falling into Bro’s arms, sobbing loudly, clutching D’s shirt.

“Mama, please stop acting drunk.”

“How d’you -hic- know I’m not?” she managed between sobs.

“Because you wouldn’t do that to the baby.”

“But my baby boys are leaving! Leaving me! How could they abandon me?”

“Mom, we aren’t abandoning you. We have to leave the nest at some point, and well, this job offer-”

“Abandoning me!”

“Dave, time to get off now,” Bro tried to shake off the urchin clinging to his leg, getting snot all over his jeans.

“No! Bo don’t go. No!”

“Seriously little man.” As he reached down to pry the little sucker off, there was a blur of blonde hair and he ended up with a matching set of Lalonde leg warmers. “Look here, you goobers-” He was cut off by Mom colliding with his chest in a crushing hug.

“You know what, Bro? I’m going to head out while you have them distracted,” D carefully backed away from the mess.

“What? No. No. You are not leaving me here! No. D!” A warning edge filtered into his tone of voice. “D, don’t do it. Who’s going to be your copilot?”

“That would be me.”

D whipped around and saw Rose leaning up against the passenger door.

“Not you too,” he groaned.

“I told you we should have left in the middle of the night,” Bro told him, making Mom burst into a fresh wail.

“Guys, we really have to go. We want to get to Columbus before it gets too dark. And that’s ten hours away. Then Memphis, then Houston. It’s already going to be three days with this fu- this clown. Can you please let us get on the road?”

“This clown is going to be the one driving, you know!”

“It’s not my fault that New York driving licenses are hard.”

“Mama?” Bro takes Mom’s head into his hands and makes he looks up at him. “We are going to be fine. I am going to take care of him and make him famous.”

“You better -hic- be famous -hic- too.”

“Nope. I’m going to be filthy rich though. You have to take care of little sister and the brats and the baby when she comes out.”

“You think -hic- the baby’s going to be -hic- a girl?”

“Someone’s going to have to keep the twins on their toes. And only a little mama can do that. Rose is just going to psychoanalyze them until they get emotional trauma, and then she’s going to analyze that.”

“You know I can hear you, Bro.”

Bro startled at how close Rose is to him. “Sh- shoot, sis. You move quietly.”

“Learned from the best. Isn’t that right, D?”

D snickered at Bro’s offended expression.

“See if I teach you any more ninja moves, you ungrateful-”

He was cut of by a hard squeeze from Mom. “Be safe out there.”

“I will, Mom, I will.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead before she stepped away. She grabbed and pulled Dave away as Rose handled Dirk. They tried to fight the women but once freed, Bro hurried over to the truck that D already had running. “See you later!” he shouted as he swung into the driver’s seat. Dave let loose a fresh batch of tears and snot into Mom’s shirt as Dirk got oddly quiet. Rose watched him as he watched the yellow truck follow the curves of the driveway through the forest.

* * *

The next week was hell. Dave would spontaneously burst into tears and couldn’t be consoled for hours. It got a little better when D and Bro got to their apartment and called home. Then Dave would cry over the phone at them but settle down much sooner.

Dirk stopped eating. Mom noticed he would sneak food out of the pantry, typically Cheerios, to stave off the hunger, but when she sat them all down for dinner, he refused everything. No bribe nor threat worked against his two year old determination. Instead, Mom would leave the Cheerios and string cheese on the lower shelves for him to forage later.

And they fought. Dave and Dirk never fought between themselves for more than a passing moment before coming to some sort of compromise. These new fights would last for more than an hour. The worst was a day. There would be hitting and biting and screaming until Mom and Rose pulled them apart and sat them in timeout.

It worried Mom to see her boys act this way.

* * *

“Richard.”

“You sound tired, Mom.”

“I am tired. The twins... they haven’t taken your absence well.”

“I don’t think you have either, but yea, from how long we have to talk to Dave before he calms down, I can only imagine what Dirk is like.”

“It’s not even that I can’t handle it without the two of you. I was able to handle you and Derrick when you two were little on my own. And then Rose came along, and yes, you helped, but you were still children too.”

“I wish you didn’t have to do this alone, Mom.”

“He’s not coming back. And I don’t particularly want him back either. I don’t want him around the twins or the baby. Tell Derrick that I think he’s right too. She’s kicking up a storm like Rose did.”

“That’s good. Means she’s going to be a good strong Lalonde. You are keeping the name, right?”

“Of course. I’ve had it so long.” She sighed and let the conversation drift in silence for a while. “I want you boys to do well. And I know you will. But I am so worried, Richard. I can’t get Dirk to eat and when I check on them at night, they are curled together. I can hear Dave crying himself to sleep. Dirk of course won’t cry, but when he falls asleep, he whimpers. Richard, he’s breaking my heart.”

“We can’t come back, Mom.”

“I know, I know. I wish you could. I’d never ask that of you. The house is empty without you and Derrick, but I know you have great destinies out there.”

“Hey, you are the one who helped us here. Without you, well, we wouldn’t be in Houston. Do you know how hot it is down here? And Ricky tells me that it’s going to get hotter as we get further into summer...”

* * *

“Tonight,” Dirk whispered to his brother.

Dave nods and grabs the strap of the backpack a little bit tighter. “Gonna go find Bo and Dee.”

Dirk nods back at him.

* * *

“I- I know I said I wouldn’t. But- But Richard, I need you and Derrick to come home.”

“Mom, what’s going on?”

“They- the twins are missing. I can’t- I can’t find them.”

* * *

The pine straw stabbed them through their thin jackets but Dirk just told Dave that’s what happens when camping. The nights were cold, but Dave told Dirk that’s why they snuggled together. They were sure this was the road that Bo and Dee went down in that big yellow truck of theirs.

* * *

“Mom!” D burst into the house. “Any news yet?”

The police car outside hadn’t given him any hope, but he still had to ask.

Mom just shook her head. Bro had dropped him off before speeding away in the rental car to find the brats himself, as he put it.

“Sir, are you the children’s father?”

“No. Their brother.”

* * *

“Dirk, my feet hurt and I’m hungry.” Dave was dragging the backpack on the ground.

“Me too.” Dirk admitted. They had been on the road for a while but hadn’t found the yellow truck, Bo, or Dee yet.

“I wanna go home.”

“Me too.” Dirk looked back over his shoulder at the long stretch of wooded road. It would take them the same time to get home. Or they could keep going. Instead he just sat down and cried. Dave wrapped his arms around his brother and cried with him.

* * *

What if they weren’t on the road? What if they were and they got hit? What if someone stopped and picked them up already? What if someone had taken them? What if they were already de-

Bro stopped his train of thought with a tightening of his grip on the steering wheel. They obviously hadn’t seen the boys on the way in from the airport, on the road between the house and any major civilization, but he had taken the back way out to the highways in the truck. Those roads were much less travelled and could easily hide two boys with twisted roads and shady trees.

Bro fought back tears as he started to blame himself for leaving his brothers and for being the cause of their running away. He knew he shouldn’t but he couldn’t help but feel guilty.

Bro slowed down to go around a tight curve and because of that saw the orange and red of the matching jackets D had gotten the twins for Christmas. The brakes squealed harshly as Bro slammed down on them, making the car skid thankfully away from steeper side. He had barely thrown the car into park before he was on his feet running to them.

“Bo!” they shouted together at him. He barely saw their tear-streaked cheeks, their dirty clothes, their ruined backpack because of the tears in his own eyes. He didn’t even break stride to pick them up in his arms and crush them tight against his chest as he finally slowed down.

“Fuck fuck fuck, shit, goddamn, you two. Do you know how fucking scared we are? Do you know how much you fucking scared us? D, Mom, and me. You scared us all. We’ve been looking all over for you. But I found you. And you are alright. Found you. Fucking found you, you little shits.”

“Bo, we sowwy,” Dave sniffled out as he buried his face against Bro’s neck.

“And hungry.”

Bro just laughed at Dirk’s addition. “We’ll get you some food when we get back to the house. But you know Mama’s going to be mad and you guys.”

The twins nodded together.

“I’m just fucking glad you are safe.”

“You are saying bad words, Bo.”

“Who the fuck cares?” Dave giggled at him. They clung tight to him as he bent down to pick up their bags and only let go of him when he opened the back seat of the car. But Dave immediately leaned forward to play with the hair on Bro’s neck through the headrest of the seat between them. For once, Bro didn’t snap at him. Instead he carefully turned the car around and drove them home.

* * *

Mom and D looked up from the couch in the living room when they heard the car pull up in front of the house. D was on his feet to see Bro step out of the car with two crayola colored backpacks in hand. The torn, dirtied straps made D’s heart catch in his throat and he quickly tried to block Mom’s view. The gasp behind him told him he failed, but it soon became a screech of happiness as the back door opens and two blonde heads pop out. D didn’t stop her from running out the front door as he was too busy taking a sigh of relief. He finally moved when the officer also moved forward to meet with the family shouting and crying in the yard.

* * *

"Dirk, Dave, why did you run away?"

"To find Bo and Dee," Dirk told them as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“We miss ‘em.”

“You guys aren’t supposed to run away. You have to listen to Mom. You have to stay and protect her.”

“She’s got Rose.”

“Rose protects Mom!”

“You have to stay here.”

“We don’t want to,” Dave said with the biggest pout on his face. Dirk got quiet.

“We have to go back to Texas and you have to stay here in New York.”

“But Bo!”

“No buts about it.”

“Dee! Please!” Dave’s whining face almost got them. His pleas were breaking their hearts.

“No, Dave. We can’t. We have to leave you guys here.”

“We’ll go after them again.” Dirk’s tone of voice was eerily low and quiet. “Plan better this time.”

“Shit.”

“Mom-” D turned towards her. “Mom, what if-”

“Richard.”

“You were just as young as Bro.”

“It was different.”

“And his age when you had me.”

“Derrick."

"We can take care of them. You’ll have you hands full with Rose going through highschool and the baby who is probably going to be as spitfire as the rest of us. And that’s all without his help and without ours.”

“But your careers-”

“Mine’s going strong. I already have several gigs lined up after that supermarket one took off. It’s like zombie hordes hit their stores and they are happy about that! And Bro’s work keeps him home anyways. He’s such a good little housewife.”

“Hey!”

“We are already like the odd couple except where brothers instead of strangers so why not add two kids to the mix who are also our brothers? And our neighbors are these sweet old ladies who already want to dote on us-”

“Kinda cougarish actually.”

“-and I’m sure they would be more than willing to step in if we need babysitters or something.”

“Richard. Derrick.”

“Mom? Mama, I know this is sudden and all, but Dirk’s serious. I know that look in his eyes. I remember that same in mine. You remember when. We got lucky this time. We got damn lucky.” Bro had to break off as his mind offered what else could have happened.

“I know, I know. Just, give me some time?”

“I have to get back to the studio. I sort of ran out in the middle of things and now they are found, I have to get back.”

“That’s alright, D. I’ll hang here a little longer and figure things out with Mom.”

“Dee?”

“We love you.”

D knelt down to the twin’s level and pulled them into a hug. “Now you listen to what Mom says. You have to listen to her. Otherwise we are going to get upset with you again. And that means no juice, apple or orange, for you guys.”

They solemnly nodded at him before he let them go to stand back up. He gave Mom and Rose a hug too and swatted Bro on the back of his head before grabbing his travel bag and heading to the airport.

* * *

“D’s right you know.”

“All my boys so far away from me.”

“Mom,” Bro sighed exasperatedly. “With the way technology is going, we’ll have better phones and internet and it will seem as if we never left. In fact, you’ll be trying to ground us or trying to kick us virtually out of your house.”

“I’m going to miss them growing up.”

“It’s not like we are never going to come back. We got all sorts of holidays and if summer is as hot as they say, I’ll bring the boys back up here so we don’t melt into the concrete. Our pad is pretty nice. All set up and plenty of room. And you’ve seen D with a camera, he’ll catch everything.”

“Derrick.”

“Mom. Trust me, if I could leave the brats here with you safely, I would. But Dirk will try again. And Dave will go with him. And-”

“I know.”

“How about a trial run? Give us a year. I can even use big brother leverage against them and they’ll be begging to come back here. Or if they don’t, then you know it’s going to work out. Lalondes are a tough, innovative group. Though D is looking for a stage name.”

“Stage?”

“No Mom, he’s not a stripper. I guess pen name is a better descriptor.”

“You better not start that either.”

“Come on, Mama, you know I could work that pole.” Bro flinched as Mom swatted his arm.

* * *

Their departure day was full of tears and snot as when Bro and D left. Bro sat in the car, banging his head against the steering wheel as Mom fussed over the twins.

“Really? This again? Shouldn’t you be used to us leaving?”

“My boys!”

“Mom! Bo and Dee got us. No worry.” Dirk rolled his eyes as Mom laid kisses all over his face.

Dave however accepted and returned her kisses with enthusiasm and sniffles. “Miss you, Mommy!”

“I’m going to -hic- miss you too, sweetie.”

“Again, ten hours to Columbus. The drive hasn’t magically gotten shorter.

“Give me -hic- time to say goodbye -hic- to my babies!”

“Not babies!” Dirk argued. Rose shoved a cooler full of lunch and juice into the passenger seat with a frown. Bro nodded at her herculean effort not to cry, knowing any other comfort would set her off. He did silently muse that she was more upset about the twins leaving than her older brothers departure.

“Mom, get out of the car or I’m going to run you over.”

“You better drive -hic- safe, Bro!”

“I got D to Houston in one piece, didn’t I? No tickets either.”

“Just- Just be careful!”

“I will!” he shouted out of the window as he turned around in the driveway and then headed out to the road.

* * *

It was late when they reached the new apartment. Dirk and Dave were leaning against the wings of their kangaroo seat in the back sound asleep. D met Bro in the parking lot moments after he pulled in. Probably had been watching for Bro’s car all evening. They carefully lifted the sleeping boys up out of their seats and got them to the new apartment without waking them. D lead the way to the bedroom with Dirk drooling on his t-shirt. Bro paused at the door frame and stared at the twin beds on either side of the room.

“D. When did you-” Bro whispered.

“What’s the point of having connections if I am not going to use them?” he answered just as quietly as he carefully laid Dirk down. “My next project is for a furniture store and they needed to get rid of some stuff. They were just going to throw it away. One man’s trash is another man’s solution for his two little brothers coming for a surprise indefinite stay.”

Bro placed Dave on his own bed already covered with the suits from cards. He glanced over and saw D tucking Dirk in with a set covered in pool balls. Once settled they quietly leave the room, closing the door behind them with only a sliver left open.

“Good drive?”

“As good as it could be. At least I don’t have truck-butt this time. Only had to threaten the goobers with ejection once. Didn’t lose them at a rest station either but I swear Dirk is part camel.”

“Ha!” D let out as he flopped down onto the futon they bought their first day in Houston.

“Hey, if you’re no longer camping out in the bedroom, and I guess it’s a good thing we didn’t go ahead and splurge on the bed for in there, where are you going to sleep?” Bro asked as he joins his older brother, enjoying the feel of something other than rental car on his ass.

“Futon’s big enough.”

“Don’t blame me for any awkward dreams though. You know I can’t turn the sexy off.”

“I think we’ll be fine. If not we just have to wait until I’m rich to get a new place. It’s not like we are going to stay here for ten, fifteen, twenty years.”

* * *

“Dave! Dave, wake up!”

“Mmnn?”

“We’re here!”

“Oh!” Dave opened his eyes to too bright sun streaming into his room instead of the usual dappled pattern from the forest outside. The room was foreign to him but Dirk’s familiar face chased away any trepidation. He climbed out of bed and looked around his new sleeping block. When it met with his approval, he grinned at Dirk and they both ran out of the room to explore the rest of the place and to jump on their sleeping brothers.

**Author's Note:**

> For more information please check out our work at striderclan.tumblr.com; we have more stories, head canons, art/pictures.


End file.
